Agenda item

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance submits a report on the CrowdFund Leicester initiative.

The City Mayor introduced the item, it was noted that Crowdfund Leicester launched in 2017 and was run in collaboration with the Spacehive crowdfunding platform. It was noted that the funding generated by the platform was not intended to in any way replace statutory funding but was there to respond to the enthusiasm of communities.

Miranda Cannon, Director of Delivery, Communications, and Political Governance, and Georgia Humby, Executive Support Officer, presented the item. It was noted that:

·         A short presentation had previously been brought to the Commission, but the Commission Members requested more detail. Hence why the report was being brought.

·         The Spacehive platform was used by a number of other Local Authorities such as Liverpool City Council.

·         Other funds were channelled through the platform, including the City Mayor’s Community Engagement Fund.

·         The platform enabled organisers to showcase projects and ideas in a digital environment.

·         Other types of resources were provided by the platform, including a land offer.

·         Spacehive were commissioned for £19,000 per annum, £10,000 was for the licence of the micro site the platform was hosted on.

·         It was accepted that the platform wasn’t very well known across the city, but that because the team working on it was small, they didn’t want to take on more work than they could handle.

·         26 projects had been successfully supported through the platform, and it was hoped that this experience would help expand the number of projects that could be delivered in the future.

·         The team welcomed Councillors approaching them to make connections with local community groups who might be interested in the platform.

·         Future efforts to spread awareness of the platform was hoped to include Member briefings, attending Ward Community Meetings, and internal meetings with different service areas such as economic regeneration.

·         Business workshops had recently started to find partners in the private and public sectors. 

·         In the first step in the process for projects, project developers could create a page to describe and pitch their idea for free.

In response to Member’s questions, it was noted that:

·         The Community Engagement Fund had specific criteria for whether projects would qualify to receive it. The aims of the fund were around supporting the public sector equality duty. This fund was largely channelled through the platform

·         Work was ongoing to see what other service specific funding pots might be available to support projects.

·         Long term risks with the land offer would have to be considered. Only one project had been delivered with the land offer included.

·         The platform was one aspect of the Council’s support for the Voluntary and Community Sector. Meaning that other projects might be inappropriate for crowdfunding and more appropriate for other strands of funding such as Ward Community Funds.

·         The cost of commissioning Spacehive was built into the budget for the Delivery, Communications and Political Governance Division.

·         During the pandemic, the Council increased links with Voluntary and Community sector organisations, it was hoped that these links could be used to spread awareness of the platform.

AGREED

1.    That the Commission recommends that Members’ comments raised be taken into account by Officers who manage Crowdfund Leicester, and Spacehive.

2.    That the Commission requests a progress update on Crowdfund Leicester in 6 months.

3.    That the Commission requests that more information be provided on the criteria for the City Mayor’s Community Engagement Fund.